'Tropes vs. Women' series launches with Damsels in Distress

The first episode of Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series examines the oft-used "damsel in distress" story element with examples from games, and traced back through art, literature, movies, and even Popeye. Over the course of twelve videos, Sarkeesian will turn a critical eye toward five such tropes, offering an academic introduction to the sexism inherent in the storytelling of many games.

Tropes vs. Women was designed to "explore, analyze and deconstruct some of the most common tropes and stereotypes of female characters in games," according to the Kickstarter description. It raised $158,922 in June, having started with a modest $6,000 goal.